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NKN of India and NORDUnet set up direct peering

Submitted by Arne Vollertsen on Tue, 04/18/2017 - 12:49

The National Knowledge Network of India connects over 1,600 research & education institutions in its home country. Concurrently, with strengthening its national footprint, NKN focuses on improving international connectivity, providing Indian researchers and students with access to the global research & education community. NKN and NORDUnet have now set up a direct peering with each other to improve the connectivity for all users of both networks.

NKN Representativestated:

- NKN recently installed presence in Amsterdam and Singapore to strengthen its international peering capabilities. We have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a direct peering between NKN and NORDUnet at the NetherLight open exchange point in Amsterdam. This new partnership gives NKN and NORDUnet the opportunity to further explore collaborations together.

René Buch, CEO of NORDUnet:

- NORDUnet congratulates NKN on establishing presence in Amsterdam and Singapore. This achievement is yet another important step on further interconnecting research & education network infrastructures through open exchange points, for the benefit of all participants. We are happy to peer with NKN at NetherLight.

Global R&E peering crucial

It is widely agreed that global peering is crucial to the future of NRENs. That is why an increasing number of NRENs cooperate and directly peer with each other at open exchange points all around the world.

This new peering collaboration between NKN and NORDUnet is yet another example of the important peering fabric, and researchers and educators in both economies will benefit from the agreement. The two economies are significant on a global scale, with India and its 1.25 billion inhabitants being the second largest country in the world measured by inhabitants and ranked 7 measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Nordic countries together have 27 million inhabitants and the Nordic region currently ranks 11 in the world measured by GDP.

With leading scientists and researchers in both their constituencies in fields as diverse as space exploration, high-energy physics and in medicine, there are lots of projects that will benefit from this direct peering. NKN and NORDUnet look forward to further exploring opportunities this new peering brings to the users of both research & education networks.

The National Knowledge Network of India is a state-of-the-art Pan-India network for research & education. It is established in 2010 and part of the Government of India. NKN already connects 1600+ research & education institutions and aims at connecting all the knowledge and research institutions in the country using high bandwidth / low latency network. This network is unique in its deployment as it carries Research, Internet and eGovernance traffic.

NORDUnet is a collaboration between the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) of the five Nordic countries; Denmark (DeIC), Iceland (RHnet), Norway (UNINETT), Sweden (SUNET), and Finland (Funet). NORDUnet operates a world-class network and e-infrastructure service for the Nordic R&E community. The five NRENs develop and operate the national research network infrastructures, connecting more than 400 research & education institutions with more than 1.2 million users.